Liquidity concerns grow as Korea’s ETF market nears $101 bn

[Photo by MK DB]

South Korea‘s exchange-traded fund (ETF) market is poised to hit 140 trillion won ($101.4 billion) in assets.

One out of every 10 products, however, fails to meet the minimum requirement for listing due to insufficient funds.

According to data from the Korea Exchange on Tuesday, the total net assets of domestic ETFs reached 139.53 trillion won as of the end of March, up 84 percent from a year ago.

The number of listed ETF products has also surged to 842.

Despite the market’s rapid growth, not all ETFs have garnered investor interest.

According to the Korea Securities Depository, 82 ETFs had total net assets falling short of the 5 billion won threshold as of Tuesday. If securities see their net assets remain below the threshold for over a month, the notes face the risk of delisting.

Moreover, there were 34 inactive ETFs with their three-month average trading volume remaining under 1,000 shares.

Short-term government notes, in particular, have witnessed significantly low trading volumes.

The KBSTAR FKTB 5Y Duration Following, for example, with net assets of 3.2 billion won, has experienced sluggish trading with an average trading volume of only 48 shares over the last three months as investors turn to longer-term bonds that offer higher trading profits.

Investment strategy-based notes have also struggled to attract investor attention, including the Heungkuk S&P Korea Low Volatility ETF.